


Dreaming of You

by mikkimouse



Category: Tiger & Bunny
Genre: Dream Sex, Dreams, I don't know if I need to tag that since it's basically canon, M/M, Oblivious Kaburagi T. Kotetsu, Sexuality Crisis, it's fairly brief though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-30 22:20:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19412566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikkimouse/pseuds/mikkimouse
Summary: Kotetsu's been having dreams about someone with blond hair. He just can't figure out who it could be orwhy.





	Dreaming of You

**Author's Note:**

> In one of the Tiger & Bunny [side specials](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOPkLww3mIg), Kotetsu says he has all these magazines because he saw an actress in a dream, but it's obvious that the actress looks exactly like Barnaby. So of course, our entire Discord server instantly jumped on the idea that he's been having sex dreams about Barnaby and _absolutely_ not realizing that's who he was dreaming about. Because he wouldn't, because Kotetsu is extremely intelligent about some things and then _dense as a brick_ about others. 
> 
> And then, of course, the idea wouldn't leave me alone, so I wrote it.
> 
> Originally this was going to be for two squares on my [Fluff Bingo](https://mad-madam-m.dreamwidth.org/8044.html) board (Naked and Longing), but 1) I wasn't sure it was fluffy enough and 2) it didn't get finished before the deadline and was _way_ longer than I thought it would be. 
> 
> So here, have ~6000 words of Kotetsu gradually realizing just how non-platonic his feelings for Barnaby are. 
> 
> Unbeta'd.

It was two months after he retired and left Stern Bild that Kotetsu had the first dream. He didn't remember much of it, just glimpses and impressions of a pale, slender body and blond curls. He woke up a little turned on and a _lot_ confused; he hadn't dreamed about being with someone since three months after Tomoe had died. His dreaming life had remained just as chaste as his real one. 

Until now, apparently. 

What was even weirder was that he'd dreamed of someone he'd never met. Before this, he'd only ever dreamed of someone he actually knew—well, he'd only ever dreamed of Tomoe, really. This was new. 

He racked his brain trying to think of a single woman he knew with blond, curly hair, but the only person he came up with was Agnes and it _definitely_ wasn't Agnes. Her hair was too long and it was darker than the woman in the dream, for one, and she was a _lot_ more endowed than the mystery woman. 

So it was probably just a fluke. Or so he thought until a month later, when he had the second dream. 

This one was more vivid than the first; it was pretty clear he was kissing the mystery woman. No, not kissing—making out, like he hadn't done since he was a teenager. There were soft lips on his and slender fingers running along his jaw, tilting it up for a better angle. He twisted the blond curls between his fingers, deepening the kiss, and slid his other hand under the T-shirt to touch bare skin. 

Kotetsu dragged himself out of the dream and stared groggily around the room, uncomfortably turned on. It might not have bothered him normally, but he was currently sharing a house with his daughter _and_ his mom. Why in the hell was he having sex dreams of some random woman _now_?

* * *

A week later, he and Kaede were in town to do some shopping when he spotted the magazine in the checkout lane. Specifically, the woman on the magazine cover. Curly blond hair, green eyes, pale skin, and a smile somewhere between coy and smug. 

Huh. 

"What're you looking at?" Kaede asked him. 

"Nothing!" Kotetsu nodded at the magazine. "Just trying to figure out why that woman looks familiar." 

"She was in that movie we saw last month. Don't you remember?" 

Kotetsu made to tug her ponytail, and Kaede ducked out of the way. "Well, _now_ I remember." 

Kaede rolled her eyes. 

So that was where the woman had come from. He'd seen her in a movie and his subconscious had latched onto that, which was why she was featuring in his dreams. 

Without thinking too much about it, he tossed the magazine onto the belt. He was a grown man. Kotetsu could buy a magazine if he wanted to. It wasn't a big deal. 

He repeated the mantra to himself even as he hid the magazine in his room where no one else could find it.

* * *

About five months into his return home, Bunny called. Kotetsu was halfway through cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, and he nearly dropped his phone in the sink in his haste to answer when he saw who it was. "Bunny!" 

"Hello, Kotetsu," Bunny said. "I hope it isn't a bad time." 

He hadn't spoken to Bunny since he'd left Stern Bild, and until this second, Kotetsu hadn't realized how much he'd missed his voice. "No! It's a great time. Just, uh, one second." 

He dried his hands and set the phone where he could see it, but out of the way of any splashing water. "Okay! Got it." 

"What are you doing?" 

"Just cleaning up. We finished dinner about half an hour ago." 

"I'm sorry. I've called at a bad time." 

It sounded like Bunny was going to hang up, and Kotestu absolutely did _not_ want that to happen. "No! No no no. Like I said, it's fine. I can clean up and talk at the same time. How are you doing?" 

"Are you _sure_ this isn't a bad time? I can call back after you're finished." 

Kotetsu scoffed. "What, you think I _can't_ clean and talk at the same time?" 

"I've seen your attempts at multitasking," Bunny said. "I'm skeptical."

" _Hey!_ " Kotetsu protested, and immediately dropped a heavy bowl in the sink. 

"What was that?" Bunny asked. 

Kotetsu scrambled to get the bowl out and to wipe the water off his shirt. "Nothing!" 

"It sounds an awful lot like you're proving my point."

Kotetsu made a face at his phone, even though the video wasn't on and Bunny couldn't see it. "What, we haven't talked in months and you're going to hang up on me because of a little kitchen cleaning?" 

"I'm going to hang up on you because you're going to break something, and I don't want your family to blame me for broken dishes," Bunny said. 

"I'm not going to break anything!" Kotetsu argued, trying not to let his desperation show in his voice. "Bunny—" 

"I can call back in a little bit," Bunny said. "Or...you could call me back when you're free?" 

There was something in the way he said it that made Kotetsu jump on the words. "Sure! I can call you. Just give me, uh, thirty minutes." He took another look at the kitchen. "Maybe an hour." 

Bunny laughed softly. "Talk to you soon, Kotetsu."

* * *

Even after finishing the kitchen, it still took Kotetsu half a beer and a solid ten-minute pep talk to call Bunny back. He wasn't sure why he was so nervous—obviously Bunny wanted to talk to him—but it still took longer than it should've for him to make the call. 

It rang twice before Bunny answered. "Hello?" 

"Hey, Bunny-chan," Kotetsu said. "It's been awhile." 

"Forty minutes," Bunny said dryly. "Ages." 

Kotetsu grinned. Damn, he'd missed this. "Ah, you were counting?" 

"I was not. You said it would be an hour. I'm surprised you're early." 

Kotetsu leaned back on the porch and tipped his head up toward the sky. "Kitchen wasn't as bad as I thought. How are you doing, Bunny?" 

There was enough of a pause that Kotetsu worried, irrationally, that Bunny had hung up on him. 

"I'm...okay," Bunny said cautiously.

"Really?" Kotetsu raised his eyebrows, even though Bunny couldn't see him. "You don't sound too sure about that." 

"It's..." Bunny sighed. "It's strange. Trying to figure things out. I've been focused on one thing for so long. It's strange to have it gone." 

Kotetsu thought about Bunny's computer files, the acres of research into Ouroboros and his parents' deaths that had consumed most of his life. "Have you tried new hobbies?" 

He realized, as soon as the words were out of his mouth, how dumb that sounded, like Bunny wouldn't have considered trying a new hobby.

But Bunny, thankfully, didn't comment on that. "A few. It's still strange," he said. "How are you doing, Kotetsu?" 

"Me? I'm fine," Kotetsu said, probably too quickly. "Just helping out my mom, helping out Muramasa, hanging out with Kaede." 

_Trying to make up for years of being a terrible dad,_ he did not say. 

"No new hobbies for you?" Bunny asked. 

It sounded like he was teasing, but Kotetsu winced all the same. "Oh, you know, just the same. Watching too much TV, reading too many comics." 

"Watching any Hero TV?" Bunny asked. 

Kotestu hesitated. He hadn't, not because he didn't want to, but because it made him miss it so much he couldn't breathe. He'd been part of that for eleven years; being a hero was all he'd wanted to do with his life. But he was down to less than two minutes now, and his power was still declining. He couldn't go back, even if he wanted to. 

"Nah, not really," he said. "Kaede says I yell at the TV too much if we do. Do you?" 

"No," Bunny said. "I haven't." 

Kotetsu wondered if it was for similar reasons. Bunny hadn't been a hero as long as he had, but it had still been a large part of their lives. Of _his_ life. 

"So what other hobbies have you picked up?" Kotetsu asked. "You learning to make pots or something? Knitting?" 

He didn't know why he thought Bunny would knit, but the mental image was amusing. 

Bunny didn't really laugh, but Kotetsu could hear the slight smile in his voice when he answered. "No, nothing like that." 

"Hey, if you want to get into sewing, Antonio could give you some pointers."

Bunny _did_ laugh at that.

They talked for a little longer, keeping to safer topics. Kotetsu had forgotten how much he missed talking to Bunny, how much he missed Bunny's voice. It made something ache deep in his chest, in the same place it did when he watched Hero TV. 

But he couldn't go back to being a hero, and that meant he couldn't go back to being partners with Bunny. 

Bunny sighed. "I should let you go. It's getting late, and I have to get up early tomorrow." 

Kotetsu winced at the reminder. "Ah, sorry to keep you so late." 

"Don't apologize," Bunny said. "It was good to talk to you again." 

"It was good to talk to you, too, Bunny-chan," Kotetsu said, and surprised himself with how much he meant it.

* * *

He had another dream that night, where he was kissing a pale neck, gently sucking marks into the skin there. Slender fingers combed through his hair, traced along his ears and jaw, down to start loosening his tie. 

_(Why the hell was he wearing clothes in this kind of dream at all?)_  
  
Those hands pulled off his tie and tossed it aside before returning to unbutton his shirt, pulling it aside to drag nails over his chest. He moved from her neck to her mouth, back for another, deeper kiss while her hands roamed lower. 

_(Her hands, her hands, it had to be hers, right?)_

Kotetsu woke up groggy and disoriented and still feeling a phantom body pressed against his, even as he registered he was alone in bed as always.

* * *

The dreams continued off and on for months, with no pattern that Kotetsu could see. He'd go two or three weeks without one, and then he'd have three in a single week. Sometimes they were just as vague as the first one had been, nothing more than a few impressions of another person, but sometimes they were more vivid and more, uh, _explicit_ , which left him both turned on and grumpy when he woke up.

The worst part was how _right_ it felt in the dreams, how safe and happy and in love and _loved_ he felt, even when they never said a word to each other. He missed having that, and he'd been doing pretty damn well dealing with it until these dreams decided to remind him of how _much_ he missed it. Waking up was like crashing into a dumpster, and Kotetsu had had _plenty_ of firsthand experience with that, thanks.

It was getting ridiculous, and he was getting sick and tired of his subconscious teasing him with things he couldn't have. Especially with some random actress, of all people. He hadn't even liked her character that much. 

And it didn't help that he was feeling restless, like there was an itch somewhere under his skin that he just couldn't scratch. None of his usual hobbies held his interest for very long, and he could tell it was starting to annoy Kaede and his mom, too. More than once, Mom had shoved him into the backyard with a hoe and told him not to come back inside until he'd finished with the entire garden.

Kaede was more direct about it. 

She dropped into the chair beside him and flipped the kitchen television onto Hero TV. Kotetsu winced and went to change the channel, but Kaede yanked the remote away from him. 

"You know, it's really uncool to sit around the house doing nothing all day," she said. 

"I don't do _nothing_ ," he protested. 

Kaede shot him a sidelong look identical to the one Tomoe used to throw his way when she was irritated. "Really? Then what do you do?" 

"I help out!" 

Kaede rolled her eyes. "So do I. So does Uncle Muramasa. But I go to school and he goes to work." 

"Your grandma doesn't go to work," Kotetsu pointed out. 

"No, but she works in the garden and does most of the shopping and the cleaning and the cooking and she meets her friends for dinner twice a week." She perched her chin on her hand and narrowed her eyes at him. "You sit around and don't do anything. You _used_ to be cool." 

Kotetsu couldn't believe he was having this conversation with his _eleven-year-old_. "Yeah, well, I had to retire." 

She glared at him. "Did you _really?_ "

"I—" 

"Aren't you still a NEXT?" 

"Well—" 

"Don't you still want to help people?" 

"Of course I do!" Kotetsu snapped. "But it's not that easy. I can't—" 

_Go back_ , was what he was going to say. His power had dwindled to just one minute now. There was no way he'd be able to keep up the way he used to. 

"You can't what?" she asked. 

"It's...complicated," Kotetsu hedged. 

Kaede narrowed her eyes more. "You're the one who's always talking about how important it is to help people." She stood up and started out of the kitchen. "If you still believe that, you should do something _about_ it." 

"What, you don't want your uncool dad hanging around anymore?" he asked, trying to keep his tone light. 

Kaede didn't turn back around to him, but she clenched her fists. "You're not happy." 

It was like a slap in the face, but worse, because it was coming from his kid. "Kaede—" 

"You're _not_ ," she repeated. "I can tell. Grandma can tell. I'd rather have a cool dad who's happy than one who sits around the house all day and hates it. Even if it means you're not around as much." 

She ran out of the kitchen, leaving him with the TV still playing on low. 

He heard the jangle of someone getting points, and grabbed the remote to turn it off. Kaede was right. He _wasn't_ happy, no matter how much he tried to tell himself that he was, or that he could be, or that this was where he was supposed to be, so it didn't matter if he was happy or not. 

But she was also wrong, because he couldn't go back. It wasn't that easy, and he _had_ retired for a reason. Kaede had needed him here, and he only had one minute left.

_Yeah, but you can do a lot with one minute. You can still help people._

He scrubbed his hands over his face. That was...maybe true. Possibly. 

... _Could_ he go back? 

For the first time in months, that restless, itchy feeling calmed, and he felt almost normal. 

Huh.

* * *

That night, he dreamed again, although this one was a lot tamer than most of them had been. He was curled up with the woman, his face pressed into blond curls, holding her close against him while she traced idle patterns on his arm. It reminded him painfully of Tomoe, how they used to cuddle together and talk late at night before going to bed, staying quiet so they wouldn't wake Kaede. 

He wasn't sure if they were talking—he _assumed_ they were, but he couldn't tell if he was saying anything. And the woman, as far as he could tell, didn't respond out loud, just changed the way she was touching his arm. 

But he was thinking about going back, about what he would have to do to return to Stern Bild, what that would mean for Kaede, whether he'd even be able to return as a hero. Every insecurity, every worry, every question he had, he poured out into the dream. And in the end, he supposed, it didn't really matter, because he knew what he was going to do anyway. 

The last thing he remembered before he woke up was the woman squeezing his arm, and the feeling of the words _See you soon._

* * *

A year after Kotetsu left Stern Bild with every intention of retiring, he was back and part of Hero TV once again. Not as a First League hero—he wasn't really surprised they wouldn't let him back there—but with the heroes in the Second League. It wasn't quite the same, but it was better than being at home, watching it happen without him. And he was _still_ helping people, and that was the most important part. 

What he hadn't expected was for Bunny to come back to join him. 

After Bunny caught him—again, this was really becoming a theme in their partnership—and Lloyds confirmed he would be _thrilled_ to have Tiger and Barnaby back together, Kotetsu dragged Bunny out for a drink to celebrate. Bunny rolled his eyes, because of course he would, but he drove them to the bar without any other complaint and let Kotetsu order them both a drink. 

It had been way, _way_ too long since he'd seen Bunny, and it wasn't until now, face-to-face, that Kotetsu realized how much he'd missed him. Phone calls were great, but they weren't even close to the same, and Kotetsu was still a little thrown that after a year apart, he could actually reach across the table and touch Bunny's arm. 

The third time he did it, Bunny raised an eyebrow. "How much have you had to drink?" 

His cheeks heated. "Not that much! Just still surprised to see you. I didn't think you'd come back." 

_I didn't think you'd want to_ was probably more accurate. 

Bunny sipped his wine. "You didn't tell me you were coming back." 

Kotetsu winced. "It was sort of a... spur-of-the-moment decision. I was _going_ to tell you!" 

Bunny drummed his fingers on the table. "But not before you let me see you on live television?" 

Kotetsu turned back to his own drink. He'd been _nervous_ about telling Bunny, for reasons he hadn't quite figured out yet. "Sorry. I should've told you sooner." 

Bunny smiled, one of his small, private ones that Kotetsu had, so far, only seen when they were by themselves, when there weren't any cameras around. It always did something to his chest to see it. 

He'd missed making Bunny smile. 

"Regardless, I'm glad you're back," Bunny said. 

Kotetsu raised his glass for a toast. "I'm glad you're back, too." 

_I missed you_.

* * *

The dream he had _that_ night was the most vivid one yet, skipping past the foreplay straight to the main event. Long legs wrapped around his waist, urging him deeper, and Kotetsu kissed every inch of pale skin he could reach. It had been _years_ since he'd wanted someone this much; his whole body trembled with it, and it took every ounce of his concentration to make sure they came first. 

_(No, not they, she, right?)_  
  
A breathless voice panted in his ear, cursing in one breath and whispering his name in the next. Fingers dug into his back with every thrust, and he was getting closer with each passing second. 

His partner moaned. " _Kotetsu._ " 

_(God, that voice was familiar.)_  
  
"Kotetsu, _fuck_." 

_I'm trying,_ he wanted to say, to make a joke, but he couldn't right now, not when his mouth could be doing so many more productive things. Like kissing a line up that perfect jaw. 

" _Kotetsu—_ "

Something in the voice reached into his gut and pulled, and hell, he couldn't hold back any longer. 

He fell over the edge, sobbing Bunny's name as he did.

* * *

Kotetsu snapped awake and fought his way upright, struggling out of the sheets he'd gotten tangled in. He was covered in sweat. 

That wasn't... he hadn't...

Shit, had he really had a sex dream about _Bunny?_

He scrubbed his hands over his face, which was a bad idea because the moment he closed his eyes, he could see it all again very, _very_ vividly. He'd never even been attracted to a guy before, what the _hell_.

"It's just a dream," he said to his empty apartment. "It's not real."

The only response he got was the heater kicking on and his alarm clock clicking from 6:29 to 6:30. 

He sighed and flopped back onto the bed. It _was_ just a dream. People dreamed all the time about things they didn't actually want to do in real life. Just because he'd had a dream about Bunny in his bed didn't mean he _really_ wanted Bunny in his bed. He was just...happy to see him again, and his brain was processing it weirdly. 

Yeah. That made a lot more sense. 

"Just a weird dream," he repeated to his ceiling, and turned over to go back to sleep. 

It's not like it was going to happen again.

* * *

The next day, Kotetsu was unpacking more of his things when he came across the stack of magazines with the actress in them. He set them aside to take upstairs on his next trip, when something about them made him stop what he was doing and take another look. 

He picked up the first magazine, the one where she had a hand in her hair and a coy smile on her face. It was a pose he'd seen before—somewhere _other_ than the magazine—but he couldn't quite put his... finger... on...

He stared at the magazine, dumbfounded, wondering _how in the hell_ he hadn't noticed for almost an entire _year._  
  
Blond curls. Pale skin. Green eyes. 

She looked like Bunny. 

All the little details, all the little inconsistencies he'd chalked up to it being a dream... it was because it wasn't her he'd been dreaming about. It never had been. 

He'd been dreaming about Bunny. 

Oh. Shit.

* * *

As if his subconscious had been just _waiting_ for him to have that realization, the dreams bumped their frequency from "maybe once a month or so" to "at least twice a _week_." And while they weren't all as graphic, they were all equally vivid now and it was impossible to deny Bunny was the star. Hell, half the time all he dreamed was that they were cuddling on his couch, wrapped up in each other, and he was just twirling Bunny's hair between his fingers. 

Those dreams hurt. The sex ones, at least those made sense. But the dreams where they were just _together_ , not doing anything but enjoying the easy intimacy of each other's company...those were the dreams that had Kotetsu waking up with an ache in his chest that didn't go away all day. 

This was ridiculous. He'd never been attracted to a man in his _life_ ; why the hell was this starting now? He was closer to 40 than he was to 30; he was too old to be having a sexuality crisis. Weren't people supposed to have already figured out who they were attracted to before this? 

But something was clearly going on, because it wasn't just the dreams. Just being with Bunny again was doing something to him. Something that—thanks, _dreams_ —now that he had context for it, reminded him a lot of the way he'd felt around Tomoe when they'd first started dating. It wasn't exactly the same—Bunny wasn't Tomoe, obviously, and Kotetsu was 37 now, not 17—but it was close enough that he could recognize the tune, as it were. 

He debated asking the Internet for help, realized that was a _terrible_ idea before he finished typing his question into the search engine, and instead decided it would be better to talk to someone who might have experience in this area. 

Fortunately, Fire Emblem was always up for grabbing a drink. 

He sipped on a massive, fruity pink concoction that Kotetsu knew for a fact was at least 80 percent alcohol and then propped his chin in his hand. "So what did you want to ask me?" 

Kotetsu rubbed the back of his neck and hoped the low light in the bar hid the way his cheeks were heating. "Eh, you know, I just..." 

Fire Emblem rolled his eyes. "Out with it, Tiger." 

Kotetsu studied his own drink _very_ thoroughly. "Just...ah...have you ever known anybody who was straight and then, uh...turned gay?" 

Fire Emblem shrugged. "Sure. It happens a lot." 

He hadn't expected _that_ answer. "It does?!" 

"Of course!" Fire Emblem took another drink. "Some people don't realize they're gay until later in life for a lot of reasons. Other people are bisexual, which means they're attracted to _multiple_ genders, and if they end up with someone of the opposite gender—say, a woman if they're a man—they might not realize it for a long time." 

Kotetsu gaped. _That_ had never occurred to him. "Wait, that's a thing?!" 

"Yes!" Fire Emblem grinned. "Oh, did you think it was just straight or gay? That's _adorable_."

Kotetsu sat back in his seat and tried not to sulk into his drink. "Hey, you can't blame me. I haven't ever thought about this stuff." 

Fire Emblem arched an eyebrow. "Lucky you. Why are you thinking about it now?" 

_Shit_. Kotetsu scrambled for an answer that wasn't _I've been having sex dreams about Bunny for over a year and I need to know what the hell that means_. "Oh, I, uh...just was...curious?" 

Fire Emblem did not look convinced. Then again, he was the one who'd found Kotetsu's stash of magazines the last time all the others had been at his apartment and the _knowing_ look he'd had was burned into Kotetsu's brain. 

"Just curious, hm?" Fire Emblem tapped a pink nail against the table. "So there's not anything that _spurred_ these questions?" 

"No, of course not!" Kotetsu tried to brush it off. "Why would you think that?" 

Fire Emblem tapped a finger on his chin and gave him the same smile he had when he'd found the magazines. "It's just a little strange. And very specific. Have you suddenly found yourself attracted to a man after all this time?"

"What?! No, that's not it!" 

Fire Emblem smirked and leaned in closer. "Come on, you can tell me. I'll buy the next round of drinks." 

"We haven't even finished _this_ round of drinks," Kotetsu pointed out in a desperate effort to change the topic. 

"So?" Fire Emblem stirred the straw in his drink and took another sip. "These questions wouldn't have anything to do with my handsome, would they?" 

Nope, he wasn't doing this now. Kotetsu jumped to his feet. "Like I said, I'm just curious. Thanks for answering my questions! I'll see you tomorrow?"

Fire Emblem was still giving him that damn knowing look. "Mm-hmm. See you tomorrow." 

Kotetsu fled the bar with a ton of new things to think about and the uncomfortable feeling that Fire Emblem knew _exactly_ why he'd been asking.

* * *

He wouldn't say he had his sexuality crisis figured out, exactly, but at least he knew he wasn't the only person to be suddenly attracted to a guy after years of not. 

However, Kotetsu still had no idea what to do about it. Or the fact that he was in love with Bunny and had apparently been for a _while_. Did Bunny even like guys? He supposed it was possible, but it had never come up in conversation. Then again, he hadn't seen Bunny so much as glance at _anybody_ , whatever their gender, in the whole time they'd known each other. 

Then _again_ , there had been an entire year where their only contact had been a handful of phone calls. Anything could've happened. Considering the fact that Bunny was young, insanely popular, and gorgeous, anything probably _had_ happened. 

Which was fine! Obviously. But it was a reminder that even if Bunny liked guys, he probably wasn't going to be interested in Kotetsu. At least, not in any kind of romantic way. They were friends. Partners. And while they definitely liked each other more than they had in the very beginning, that didn't mean Bunny's feelings had shifted any further down that road. 

Besides, Bunny was...amazing. Kotetsu could admit that privately. He deserved to have anybody that he wanted, deserved to have every _thing_ that he wanted. Kotetsu got the uncomfortable feeling sometimes that all he was doing was holding Bunny back. From being in the First League, from making more money, from finding someone to be with, from...well, everything.

It didn't matter how he felt. What was most important was making sure that Bunny was happy, and Kotetsu would do whatever he could to make that happen.

* * *

Getting back into the First League went both better and worse than Kotetsu had anticipated. Better, because he honestly thought it would a couple of years before it happened, if it happened at all for him, and worse because being forcibly separated from Bunny and seeing him with a new partner was _hell_. He'd been scared, on some level, that Bunny would lose patience with being in the Second League with him from the moment they'd come back, but having it actually happen...

All in all, Kotetsu would rather get shot again. 

The only way he'd gotten through it at all was by reminding himself that this was what was best for Bunny, that this would give Bunny everything he wanted and everything he deserved. Hanging on just because _he_ wanted to stay together would've been selfish, and he couldn't do that to Bunny. Not when he'd been through so much already. 

But now they were both back in the First League—and people were _way_ more excited about it than Kotetsu would've thought, including Agnes—and he considered it a mark of restraint on Fire Emblem's part that he waited three whole days before insisting they all get together to celebrate. 

It was really good to see everybody again. They _had_ hung out while he and Bunny had been with the Second League, but not nearly as much, and it was harder when they all had such different schedules. Kotetsu really had missed them all. 

But not as much as he'd missed Bunny, and halfway through the party, he realized Bunny was nowhere to be found. He searched everywhere twice before it occurred to him to look outside, and sure enough, Bunny was on the balcony with his drink. 

Kotetsu was relieved to find him, and he hadn't realized until that moment how worried he'd been that Bunny had already left. 

He took a deep breath and walked up to him. "Hey, Bunny, there you are!"

Bunny turned toward him slightly, just enough that Kotetsu could see the edge of his face. "Sorry. I came out here to clear my head a bit."

"It's a party." Kotetsu stepped up to the balcony railing beside him. "I don't think we're supposed to have clear heads until tomorrow morning. Besides, it's a party for us!" 

"Is it?" Bunny asked softly. 

"Eh?" 

Bunny clenched his fist and focused on the railing in front of him. "Kotetsu, do you even still want to be partners?" 

"What?! Of course I do! Why would you—"

"You left." 

Kotetsu stammered to a stop. "Bunny—" 

"You left, and then you didn't tell me when you came back, and you're the one who said we should go our separate ways when Schneider pulled me into the First League without you." Bunny glared at him, green eyes sharp behind his glasses. "Which you knew about, and still didn't tell me."

Kotetsu wanted to protest, but he stood there stock-still as Bunny's words sank in. He'd never considered it from that perspective, but it sounded like...

_Crap_. 

"I don't want you to feel pressured into partnering again because of the press, or the people, or Agnes," Bunny said, in the fast, clipped voice he used when he was upset and trying to talk enough to keep from _being_ upset. "So if this isn't something you want, tell me, and I'll figure something out." 

_No_ , shit, he couldn't think of anything worse than losing Bunny again. But Kotetsu had always been terrible with finding the right words when he needed them. Not that he was always great at finding the right _actions_ , either, but those came easier. 

Which was why, instead of apologizing or explaining or anything else that a _normal person_ would've done, he cupped the back of Bunny's head and kissed him. Because he was dumb and because he'd been thinking about doing it on some level for over a _year_ , and he desperately needed a way to let Bunny know that he wanted to stay together and nothing else came to mind. 

Bunny made a soft, surprised noise and stiffened, and Kotetsu immediately regretted it. 

He pulled away. "Bunny, I—" 

_I'm sorry_ was what was going to come out, whether it was "I'm sorry for leaving" or "I'm sorry for kissing you" or probably both, but Bunny grabbed his suspenders and yanked him back so hard Kotetsu would've lost his balance if he hadn't grabbed the balcony railing. 

And then Bunny kissed _him_. 

All the pieces in Kotetsu's mind short-circuited for a second before they realigned to work in a world where Bunny wanted to kiss him, too, and not _just_ in his dreams, and wasn't that a hell of a revelation to have. 

And his dreams had been kind of crap about it, too, because it had never occurred to his subconscious that Bunny would be _terrible_ at kissing. 

Kotetsu cupped his face, stroking his thumbs over Bunny's cheeks, and changed the angle of the kiss, trying to psychically impart _just follow my lead_ directly into Bunny's mind. 

Bunny sighed, and did, and _there_ , that was so much better. 

Kotetsu had dreamed about this countless times at this point, but none of the dreams held a candle to the reality. They hadn't told him that Bunny would taste like rose wine, or how soft his lips would be, or that he would shiver every time Kotetsu so much as brushed his hair. He'd never dreamed about how it would actually feel to drag his fingers through Bunny's curls (they were soft and silky and Kotetsu could touch them for literal _hours,_ now that it seemed like Bunny was okay with that). And his subconscious hadn't known that tugging on Bunny's hair would have him making a noise that sent a jolt of heat down Kotetsu's spine, and _fuck_ , he wanted to hear that noise every day for the rest of his life. Preferably in the bedroom, where he could do something about it. 

He wanted to touch more, wanted to touch _everywhere_ , but he was vaguely aware that they were still on the balcony and he didn't want to push. So he contented himself with touching Bunny's face, tracing his jaw, his cheekbones, the shell of his ears, those _curls_ , memorizing everything that he could, finding everywhere he could touch that would make Bunny sigh into their kiss. 

"Tiger! Handsome! Where did you go?" 

Kotetsu nearly jumped out of his skin, might have accidentally jumped right off the balcony if Bunny hadn't still had an iron grip on his suspenders. 

He glanced back to the doors just in time to see Fire Emblem saunter into view. There was absolutely no way to hide what he and Bunny had been doing, and Kotetsu was already scrambling for an explanation. 

Fire Emblem took one look at him, arched an eyebrow, and turned on his spiky heel to walk back inside. "They're not out here, Bison! I have no idea _where_ my handsome has run off to!" 

Kotetsu let his head drop onto Bunny's shoulder, partly relieved, partly turned on, and wholly unsteady. He cleared his throat and raised his head again. "We should. Uh. Probably get back." 

Bunny was staring at him, green eyes huge and his mouth slightly parted and shiny from their kiss. It took all of Kotetsu's self-control not to kiss him again. 

"Maybe we should," Bunny said. "Or...my place isn't far from here." 

Kotetsu frowned, confused at the non sequitur. "I know where you live, Bunny-chan." 

Bunny narrowed his eyes, and _oh_. That was what he'd meant.

"Are...are you sure?" Kotetsu asked. 

Bunny dropped his gaze to Kotetsu's chest, where he was _still_ holding onto the suspenders. "I don't want you to leave," he said very, very quietly. 

Kotetsu heard the unspoken _me_ on the end of that sentence, and could have kicked himself. "Bunny," he whispered, drawing his thumb over his cheek, "I won't leave. Not again. You don't have to invite me over for that. Or..." 

It struck him then, like an ice-cold fist, that it was possible _that_ was why Bunny had kissed him, and he jerked away. "Or kiss me. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do. I'll stay."

Bunny's brow furrowed, and then he cursed and yanked Kotetsu back toward him and into a hug. It took Kotetsu a second to register that, but the moment he did, he wrapped his arms around Bunny and hugged him back as hard as he could. 

"You're hopeless, old man," Bunny said, his voice muffled where his mouth was pressed into Kotetsu's shoulder. 

Maybe he'd jumped to conclusions, then. "So you...wanted to kiss me?" Kotetsu asked tentatively. 

" _Yes_." Bunny's arms tightened around him. "For a long time now." 

Kotetsu closed his eyes and grinned like an idiot, but hell, it wasn't like anyone was around to see. "Me, too." 

For more than a year, if not longer; he had a feeling if he actually _thought_ about it, tried to trace back to when Bunny first started making his heart flip, it would be a lot longer than that. 

"Do you want to go back inside?" Bunny asked. 

_Right_ , dammit, all their friends were just inside the doors. Kotetsu liked his friends, but he'd literally _just_ discovered kissing was something Bunny wanted to do, and he wanted to explore more of that. "I guess we should." 

"My place is still an option," Bunny said. 

Kotetsu considered. "Don't suppose you picked up a couch in the past few weeks?"

"No. But I've got a very large bed."

* * *

Kotetsu didn't dream that night. 

But then again, when he fell asleep with the real Bunny curled around him, he didn't really need to.

**Author's Note:**

> Come see me on:  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/mad_madam_m)  
> [Tumblr](https://mad-madam-m.tumblr.com/)  
> [Dreamwidth](https://mad-madam-m.dreamwidth.org/)  
> [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.social/mad-madam-m)


End file.
